Senior Year Box Set

He set us up in one of the flight simulators and suggested I get Laminar Research’s X-Plane software. Roy told me that it could save me several hours of flight instruction. Cassidy joined me as my copilot. Brook and Roy left so she could go fly.

Cassidy and I ran through several tutorials and started to get bored.

“Let’s skip to actually flying,” she suggested.

I agreed, and we jumped several tutorials and started the one at the end where you took off and landed your plane. On my first attempt, I was glad this wasn’t real. I didn’t get the aircraft up to speed and crashed into a fence at the end of a runway. The next attempt, I gave it plenty of gas but jerked the yoke back. The plane ended up trying to go almost straight up, stalled when the airspeed dropped, and exploded on the runway.

“You suck,” Cassidy observed.

I gave her a hard look, and she just smiled.

On the next try, I got off the ground and started to have some fun. All of a sudden, a buzzer started to go off.

“What the hell’s that?” I asked.

Cassidy looked at the red flashing light.

“Proximity alert,” she read, and then we were hit by a huge jet that was landing.

Over the next half hour, Cassidy and I died in several spectacular ways. It was almost like the simulator was trying to kill us. We ran out of gas, lightning hit our plane, we slammed into a mountain, and the list went on.

Finally, Cassidy had had enough.

“Let me try,” she ordered.

I quietly sat and waited to die as she took off and calmly flew the plane. She could even get us landed. We bounced a few times, but we lived through the flight. She looked at me like I was an idiot. I calmly took off my headset and stomped out of the simulator.

As I exited, I heard laughter coming from an office. I made a beeline to it and found several young guys who looked like they were in college. The group was in front of a computer terminal.

“Sorry, man. They pulled that trick on us when we started. When we heard a newbie was going to use a simulator, we couldn’t help ourselves.”

It turned out they were students at State who were taking a flying class. From the terminal they were at, they could cause problems to arise in the simulated flight, and you had to figure out how to solve them.

“At least I know about every way I can die now,” I said.

“Believe me; there are many more. Sorry about that. I hope you’re okay with the prank we pulled.”

“I’m good,” I said. “Would it be okay if we were actually able to fly for a while?” I asked.

“We’ll leave you alone. Have fun,” they said, and then packed up to go back to school.

I walked back in and found Cassidy flying.

“This isn’t that hard,” she offered.

“I guess not everything comes easy for me.”

“It’s okay, I’ll help you learn,” she offered.

I thought about telling her what the college kids had been doing, but decided against it. I’d give her this one.

◊◊◊

Since no one would plan the date, I took control. The four of us drove to a new seafood place over in Washington. Mary Dole had told me about the restaurant after Tom took her there. They flew in fresh Alaskan crab legs for Saturday night. I called, and they were booked up until I told them who I was. They said they could get us in if I agreed to have my picture taken and put on their wall.

My first stop was at Don’s house because Brook made some veiled threats about what would happen if she saw Don’s sister. I figured we needed to calm things down some because Brook wasn’t generally like this. I’d driven my mom’s Cadillac because it was the best double-date car. When Don got in, he looked worried.

“My sister is freaking out. I let it slip that we were double-dating,” he said as soon as his butt hit the seat.

“Relax. We aren’t going to try to turn you against your sister. I bet if she’d cool down, she would find that she and Brook have a lot in common. They might even become friends.”

“I don’t know. She’s used to being the one in charge. It’s driving her nuts that Brook is the head cheerleader,” he explained.

This reminded me of Tracy during her freshman year. Maybe I could get her to talk to Destiny. Life did not revolve around high school. I didn’t understand why she was making a big deal out of it. Then again, I was a guy.

“Hey,” I said to change the subject, “I have a feeling tonight is going to be pricey.”

I saw Don struggle for a moment.

“I only have sixty dollars on me,” he said.

If we got the Alaskan crab legs, it would be that or more per person. I hadn’t even thought about how much it would be until just now. Brook and I tended to do whatever we wanted without worrying about how much it cost. Cassidy and Don were typical high school kids. I was impressed he had sixty dollars. When I was a freshman, I was lucky to have five on me, so I understood where he was coming from.

“Tell you what: I’ll get tonight. If you and Cassidy hit it off, then you pick the restaurant next time, and you pay. There are several places we could all eat for under thirty,” I suggested.

“We can go back, and I can ask my dad if he can loan me some money.”